Best Delay Pedals for 2016

Looking for the best delay pedal? The reviews on this site are written for musicians, by musicians. We’ve tested all of the top delay pedals, spoken with other musicians, read all of the relevant forums, blogs, and manuals, and put all of our findings in one convenient place. There is no perfect delay pedal for all musicians, but here are a few of our top picks for 2016:

TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay Review3.5Admin2016-03-31 03:41:53Don’t be intimidated by this pedal. This is the kind of equipment that, when most guitarists first take it out of the box, would think: “Oh jeez, I’m not going to ever figure out more than half of what this pedal probably does.” It looks like some sort of sci-fi space module. It’s got buttons and knobs and a display screen with numbers that seem to be always going up or going down and you’re never sure why. Check Amazon Price…

Don’t be intimidated by this pedal. This is the kind of equipment that, when most guitarists first take it out of the box, would think: “Oh jeez, I’m not going to ever figure out more than half of what this pedal probably does.” It looks like some sort of sci-fi space module. It’s got buttons and knobs and a display screen with numbers that seem to be always going up or going down and you’re never sure why. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

In a lot of ways, this is your average delay pedal. It’s got all the necessary sound modification options–delay time, effects level, and feedback–and 9 delay presets from analog to tape to a lo-fi delay to modulated delay (for that chorus-y effect) to reverse and slapback. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

There’s really not a whole lot to say about this pedal. It’s analog–and really, truly analog–and it goes for less than $50. It’s got a sort-of feminine turquoise paint job and one red LED light to indicate whether it’s on or off. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

In the spirit of full disclosure, I have to admit that my longstanding loyalty to the Boss DD-5 Digital Delay pedal has spoiled me. Going down a notch to the DD-3 just feels like a letdown. However, I will attempt to view it as a pedal that stands on its own. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

In the pursuit of tone, analog is the sought-after sound that many digital pedals do their utmost to emulate. The MXR M169 Carbon Copy Delay is all analog, a straightforward delay stompbox firmly pitched at guitarists looking for the very best in sound without the multitude of bells and whistles you’ll find on many digital delays. Promising everything from crisp, slap echoes to grand, Dave Gilmour-style soundscapes, the Carbon Copy aims to offer unparalleled quality and nudges the price up accordingly, but is it worth it? Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

When I’m testing out pedals, I try not to spend too much time on them because one thing I look for is how easy they are to use. When I got around to the DL4, it seems like I plugged it in and an hour and a half went by in the blink of an eye. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

The Hardwire DL-8 Delay Looper is a good pedal. The one thing that stands out more than anything else is that it seems to warm-up my guitar tone. This may be awesome or annoying depending on what kind of tone you like. Beyond that, it seemed to have an inordinate amount of signal delay with its delay effects and loops. The loops in particular lost volume quickly the more I layered on. Obviously, some decay is to be expected but it was a bit too noticeable for my taste. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

There was a time when you’d need two pedals to loop and delay together, and you’d need a fantastic sense of musical time to get them to work together efficiently. Digitech’s behemoth JamMan Delay offers guitarists both looping and delaying features, all in one unit. It promises to not only provide two pedals’ worth of functions, but also to make combining them simple. With Digitech at the centre of the looping world, they have a lot to live up to with this new, feature-laden offering. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

So I pulled this thing out of the box and plugged it in and my first thought was: Ok…where do I begin? It has more knobs and buttons than the average delay pedal and a few more input/output jacks as well. Surely this is a sign of diversity and versatility, but to the first-time user, it’s a bit intimidating. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…

I’m a frequent user of Boss’ RC-20 XL loop pedal. It does a lot of cool stuff in a relatively compact package. The RE-20 Space Echo is a strikingly similar design so when I fired it up to test it out, I was expecting a universe of possibilities. I mean, how cool does “Space Echo” sound? It was pretty disappointing. Check Amazon Price…Continue reading…